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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Round-up of the latest numbers and charts from this excepti

SystemSystem Posts: 11,690
edited June 2014 in General

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Round-up of the latest numbers and charts from this exceptional political period

Interesting analysis from @IpsosMORI on the source of UKIP voters by previous allegiance & age. 18% ex-CON 65+ pic.twitter.com/foOc1Jfk8T

Read the full story here


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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,502
    @PopulusPolls: New Populus VI: Lab 35 (-2); Cons 34 (+2); LD 9 (-1); UKIP 14 (+1); Oth 9 (+1) Tables http://t.co/241rZSLttw
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    dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786
    Girls just wanna have Con
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    dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786

    @PopulusPolls: New Populus VI: Lab 35 (-2); Cons 34 (+2); LD 9 (-1); UKIP 14 (+1); Oth 9 (+1) Tables http://t.co/241rZSLttw

    That Labour lead is just growing and growing post the Euros

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    QuincelQuincel Posts: 3,949
    Populus are just trolling us these past few weeks. Every poll of theirs shows a dramatic boost for one of the big two it seems!
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    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,422
    Quincel said:

    Populus are just trolling us these past few weeks. Every poll of theirs shows a dramatic boost for one of the big two it seems!

    2pts is hardly dramatic

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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,932
    edited June 2014

    @PopulusPolls: New Populus VI: Lab 35 (-2); Cons 34 (+2); LD 9 (-1); UKIP 14 (+1); Oth 9 (+1) Tables http://t.co/241rZSLttw

    How close would you be if you applied the Populus methodology to the Ashcroft & Survation unweighted VI (For Newark) ?
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    Scrapheap_as_wasScrapheap_as_was Posts: 10,059
    Another PB Tory ....

    If this is the case, then as bad as Labour campaigners feel today, the party has yet to hit rock bottom. Unfortunately, that could come on May 7th next year.

    The one clear winner in Newark was David Cameron. Ukip’s putative surge was held back if not becalmed, Labour managed to fall 5% on their 2010 performance and the Lib Dem vote collapsed.

    New questions will be asked about Ed Miliband’s leadership and some questions will start to be asked about Nigel Farage’s. But based on what both parties have been saying today about their respective results in Newark, don’t expect substantive answers any time soon.

    http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2014/06/06/weve-passed-peak-ukip-but-labour-has-yet-to-hit-rock-bottom/#more-18375
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    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,422
    On thread, looking at all that info is it fair to regard UKIP as the grumpy old man party?
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    FPT: Mr. Jim, it was not Lagarde who made the comments, but a senior underling of hers, who then looked as silly as a dog wearing goggles and a leather riding hat.
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    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,422
    Mr Dancer, ah I see. In future don't you ever diss snoopy though or egregious and condign measures will be taken ;)
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    I see that shadsy has a market on who will be Prime Minister at the 2015 Queen's Speech. With evens on Ed Miliband and 11/10 on David Cameron, this market seems generous. Given that shadsy is also quoting 4/5 on Labour most seats, the evens on Ed Miliband in particular looks like clear value to me.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Jim, not necessarily a bad thing for an amusing dog to also be silly.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412
    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346
    Sunil Prasannan ‏@Sunil_P2 · 8s
    #LibDems' GB by-election %-ages since GE 2010 - 9 lost deposits from 16. Only 3 polls higher than 20% #Newark

    http://t.co/qMjidIWWTG
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346
    Sunil Prasannan ‏@Sunil_P2 · 18m
    UKIP push LDs in 4th on by-election aggregate after #Newark.

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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346
    Sunil Prasannan ‏@Sunil_P2 · 20m
    % of aggregate vote at GB by-elections since GE 2010 (update for #Newark): Lab 44%, Con 18%, UKIP 13%, LD 11%

    http://t.co/svsOGLOnjQ


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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    edited June 2014
    FPT

    "isam said:
    » show previous quotes
    Im not saying they will win 4-5, i am saying thats the most they will win

    These are their best shots IMO

    Boston & Skegness
    Bromsgrove
    Castle Point
    Dag & Rain
    Dudley North
    Great Grimsby
    Halesown & Rowley Regis
    Morley & Outwood
    Newcastle Under Lyme
    Plymouth Moor View
    S Bas & E Thurrock
    Staffordshire Moorlands
    Stoke on Trent South
    Telford
    Thanet North
    Thanet South
    Thurrock
    Walsall North Lads
    Walsall South
    West Bromwich West
    Wolverhampton NE"



    The Great Yarmouth seat not on your list, Mr. Sam? An oversight surely.

    < Annecdote Alert >

    I spoke to my bother last evening. He is not a natural Conservative voter being a retired London Underground train driver and, in his day, a fiery trade unionist. He now lives near Great Yarmouth. From what he told me, I should imagine that the UKIP message will go down very well indeed in that part of the world.

    < /Annecdote Alert >
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    TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    edited June 2014

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    Total destruction or detoxification?

    You've got some very strange bedfellows in UKIP, Clown Farage being amongst them.
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    FregglesFreggles Posts: 3,486
    FPT
    Morley and Outwood? No, there will be a mix of UKIP leaning Tories and anti UKIP Tories there. Labour could improve their share of the vote.

    ADDITION: there will be a Red Liberal red shift there I would think
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Royale, hard to predict that far ahead. It depends whether UKIP fades and the Lib Dems return, UKIP replaces the Lib Dems as a strong(ish) third party, or whether we end up with a two party system again.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346
    Sunil Prasannan ‏@Sunil_P2 · 43m
    Bar chart of all Great Britain by-election results since GE2010, updated for #Newark

    http://t.co/CYFD8A4Zv3
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Freggles, that post makes me think a Red Shift/Blue Shift article could be worth reading.

    Come on, Mr. Eagles. You're always saying physics gives you a hadron.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412
    edited June 2014
    On topic, not sure this tells us anything new: UKIP derives a big chunk of its support from older ex-Conservative voters. Yes, tell me something I don't know.

    The key point is this: Cameron should have never lost those voters in the first place. A big portion of Conservative voters and members left the party simply because Cameron and his team either ignored, dismissed or were extremely rude to them. Perceptions matter enormously.

    Whatever 'our' differences in policy, that was not necessary and by no means was it inevitable.
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    Scrapheap_as_wasScrapheap_as_was Posts: 10,059
    edited June 2014

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    I would also walk as I'm a ken clarke wing-Tory type man but in the people's republic of Bercow, I'm not sure that would really hurt anyone.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346
    edited June 2014
    Sunil Prasannan ‏@Sunil_P2 · 4s
    #Newark makes it three consecutive lost deposits at Westminster by-elections for the #LibDems

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    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    edited June 2014
    The IMF's warning is in second place on the "BBC's web site, Georges tweet and TSE's "huzzah" seem to be overshadowed.

    "The International Monetary Fund warns George Osborne that accelerating house prices and low productivity pose the greatest threat to the UK's economic recovery. "
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,850

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    Would there be any Liberal Democrats left for Jack W, Charles, and TSE to vote for?

    Shalford on Surrey CC acts as a sort of test case as to who Conservatives would vote for, if offered a choice between UKIP and Lib Dem. It was a safe Conservative seat in 2009, but the Conservatives screwed up their nomination in 2013. On the face of it, it seems Conservative voters broke about 2:1 in favour of UKIP.

    But, that's rural Surrey. Closer into London, they may have broken in favour of the Lib Dems. In Essex, or one of the old coalfields, they may have broken more heavily in favour of UKIP.

    I think that problem is that it's increasingly hard to unite old school Conservatives, social and economic liberals, eurosceptics, working class social conservatives in one party of the right. PR would offer a solution to this.

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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Pastor questioned by police:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27732156

    He was not arrested.
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    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,422
    @Scrapheap_as_was‌
    I've said to my MP and Assn that a deal of any description with UKIP and I walk. They believe 40% of the activist base in my assn would do likewise.
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    Scrapheap_as_wasScrapheap_as_was Posts: 10,059
    Smarmeron said:

    The IMF's warning is in second place on the "BBC's web site, Georges tweet and TSE's "huzzah" seem to be overshadowed.

    "The International Monetary Fund warns George Osborne that accelerating house prices and low productivity pose the greatest threat to the UK's economic recovery. "

    You are brave to accuse the Beeb of bias on these boards...
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Jim, don't think you have anything to worry about.

    UKIP won't want a coalition or other deal because they would instantly lose lefty sorts, from whom they get a fair amount of support.

    Cameron won't want any deal as it would lose him much of the centre and soft left (but who won't back Miliband).

    It makes no sense for either side. There's a significant old school Conservative overlap, but the losses for both sides would exceed any potential gains.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346
    edited June 2014


    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    Nah, I would rather vote for the Tory/UKIP combo than for the LDs :)
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    OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143

    Mr. Royale, hard to predict that far ahead. It depends whether UKIP fades and the Lib Dems return, UKIP replaces the Lib Dems as a strong(ish) third party, or whether we end up with a two party system again.

    We're very unlikely to end up with a two party system again - unless there's a merger on one side or the other (as there was in Australia, say), even though Labour and Conservatives could hold more seats after 2015 then they do now on a lower vote share.
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    NeilNeil Posts: 7,983

    Pastor questioned by police:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27732156

    He was not arrested.

    Are they going to question Robinson or inquire after his remarks?
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    Total destruction or detoxification?

    You've got some very strange bedfellows in UKIP, Clown Farage being amongst them.
    Destruction. But I suppose a destroyed party is by its very nature detoxified. Not that it matters once it no longer exists.

    It's important to note that Farage himself was (and is) a staunch Thatcherite. He once told me (in person, way back in 2002) that if you bit off the top of his head (like he was a stick of Blackpool rock) you would see the pattern TORY embedded right throughout the length of his body. He went on to say that (at the time) he was regularly approached by backbench MPs asking him to put himself forward to the candidates list; he'd be certain to get an excellent safe seat somewhere.

    He refused. He just felt the Conservative party had abandoned its principles and its natural supporters. I got there about 20 years after him. Although I am in 'no man's land' and haven't joined UKIP.

    I'd very careful about insulting him (or anyone in his party) as a 'Clown'. I read that as an insult at me (and my intelligence) as well. I'm sure you know the Conservatives still need 40%+ to reliably win majorities. You will not win a single ex-Conservative back with that approach.

    It just reinforces divisions between us.

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    anotherDaveanotherDave Posts: 6,746

    Mr. Royale, hard to predict that far ahead. It depends whether UKIP fades and the Lib Dems return, UKIP replaces the Lib Dems as a strong(ish) third party, or whether we end up with a two party system again.

    What is the effect of the third party? Will it matter if the third party is UKIP rather than LD?
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    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    edited June 2014
    Atul Hatwal repeats the same point that antifrank and others here have been making, that Newark indicates that there is anti-UKIP tactical voting, especially by former LibDem voters.

    I'm unconvinced by this. Tactical voting implies deliberately voting for a party to stop another, rather than voting for the one you would vote for if it had a chance.

    Now, there weren't any tactical voters in Newark in 2010. The 20% who voted LibDem were certainly not people voting LibDem because Labour didn't have a chance and the LibDems did. They were presumably, and very simply, people who preferred the LibDems to the alternatives. They might not have been particularly strongly identified with the LibDem Party, but neither were they voting tactically. They were just voting, period. They weren't Labour supporters voting LibDem to keep out the evil Tories.

    Now, it may well be that quite a few of them yesterday voted Tory. But that if itself doesn't mean they were voting tactically to keep out UKIP. Surely the simplest explanation is that they've been disappointed with the LibDems, and preferred the Tories out of the options available, just as last time they preferred the LibDems out of the options available.

    This is an important point, because, if I'm right, the number of LD->Con switchers won't depend on whether UKIP is seen as the main contender in a given seat. If the 'tactical voting' theory is right, it will.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,850
    ToryJim said:

    On thread, looking at all that info is it fair to regard UKIP as the grumpy old man party?

    It's worth noting that the majority of the party's support is from those aged 35-64. Former Conservatives in particular, seem to be susceptible to UKIP's appeal from their late thirties onwards.
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    RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,263

    Smarmeron said:

    The IMF's warning is in second place on the "BBC's web site, Georges tweet and TSE's "huzzah" seem to be overshadowed.

    "The International Monetary Fund warns George Osborne that accelerating house prices and low productivity pose the greatest threat to the UK's economic recovery. "

    You are brave to accuse the Beeb of bias on these boards...
    The Beeb are and have always been biased towards the establishment. Politicians come and go or get bought, the establishment stays the same.

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    Bond_James_BondBond_James_Bond Posts: 1,939
    FPT

    isam said:


    Im not saying they will win 4-5, i am saying thats the most they will win

    These are their best shots IMO

    Boston & Skegness
    Bromsgrove
    Castle Point
    Dag & Rain
    Dudley North
    Great Grimsby
    Halesown & Rowley Regis
    Morley & Outwood
    Newcastle Under Lyme
    Plymouth Moor View
    S Bas & E Thurrock
    Staffordshire Moorlands
    Stoke on Trent South
    Telford
    Thanet North
    Thanet South
    Thurrock
    Walsall North Lads
    Walsall South
    West Bromwich West
    Wolverhampton NE

    Oh, OK - sorry for the confusion.

    As in my previous post though I'm still a bit bemused as to why any of these could be considered best shots except in a least-worst sense.

    The number after each are how many votes behind the winners UKIP were in 2010.

    Boston & Skegness - 17,244
    Bromsgrove - 19,608
    Castle Point - 19,806 (although elec calc says 0 votes, so I assume not fought)
    Dag & Rain - 13,614
    Dudley North - 11,007
    Great Grimsby - 8,020
    Halesown & Rowley Regis - 15,291
    Morley & Outwood - 15,758; Ed Balls' seat saved from him by UKIP
    Newcastle Under Lyme - 11,350
    Plymouth Moor View - 10,657
    S Bas & E Thurrock - 16,985
    Staffordshire Moorlands - 16,213
    Stoke on Trent South - 9,953
    Telford - 12,568
    Thanet North - 20,007
    Thanet South - 19,514
    Thurrock - 13,479
    Walsall North Lads - 10,658
    Walsall South - 11,007
    West Bromwich West - 9,046
    Wolverhampton NE - 10,826

    One way in which UKIP are clearly differentiated from the others is by the fact that their "best shots" list looks a lot like a LibLabCon "no hopers" list!

    Are UKIP contesting Norfolk Enchance?
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Neil, I do not know.

    Mr. Dave, bloody hard to say. Depends on political stance, how the EU goes and how it works out geographically.

    Given there are lots of Lib-Con marginals and UKIP appears capable of inroads in the north I'd be more worried about UKIP being a third party if I were Labour than Conservative, but it's hard to say.
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    AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    edited June 2014
    antifrank said:
    "The refusal to recognise a common European interest, always putting the national interest first – you [the UK] reintroduced these ideas and made them contagious"

    This, from the French!? Tu es kidding, monsieur?
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    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @Scrapheap_as_was

    Bias is quite often someone telling a truth that we don't like.
    I am disgusted that the media show old soldiers remembering, and pomp and flags, but are more reticent about showing pictures of the dead and wounded (especially the cattle slaughter at "Utah" beach) where the Americans struggled bravely through withering fire.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Anorak, the comment about us not electing the National Front, unlike France, amused me.
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    kierankieran Posts: 77
    Just a quick reply to OblitusSumMe on the last thread.

    I don't think Labour will have 'given up' on South Dorset. I would expect the local party to fight hard and attract activists from neighbouring seats given there are so few Labour targets in the area. But they would be stupid to devote any central resources to it.

    It is 108 on their target list. If they won it they would have an 80+ majority. That seems very unlikely and in any event unnecessary. A sensible strategy is to focus on the 80 seats they need to win to get a working majority of 20 - 30. Given it is likely to be a close election it is pointless to waste resources on seats which are real longshots.

    On Newark I think the result is a good one for the Conservatives. But like Eastleigh for the Lib Dems they put in a campaign effort which cannot be replicated across the country. And it would be good for Labour to do badly in an unwinnable seat - it means their vote will be more efficiently distributed.

    I also don't get the relevance of Labour winning the seat in 1997. That was an election where Labour got a 170+ majority and still only took the seat by less than a thousand votes. Who seriously thinks Labour is going to win that sort of majority next year? And why is that the standard that needs to be matched? That is before we factor in the boundary change effects.

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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,502
    Smarmeron said:

    The IMF's warning is in second place on the "BBC's web site, Georges tweet and TSE's "huzzah" seem to be overshadowed.

    "The International Monetary Fund warns George Osborne that accelerating house prices and low productivity pose the greatest threat to the UK's economic recovery. "

    Anti Tory bias by the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation?

    Colour me stunned.

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    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,422
    antifrank said:
    I suppose it has the virtue of honesty, often lacking in a European context. Most of it is risible though particularly blaming Britain for the Euro. It wasn't us the shackled European countries to a turd, they dud that all by themselves.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,850

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    Total destruction or detoxification?

    You've got some very strange bedfellows in UKIP, Clown Farage being amongst them.
    Destruction. But I suppose a destroyed party is by its very nature detoxified. Not that it matters once it no longer exists.

    It's important to note that Farage himself was (and is) a staunch Thatcherite. He once told me (in person, way back in 2002) that if you bit off the top of his head (like he was a stick of Blackpool rock) you would see the pattern TORY embedded right throughout the length of his body. He went on to say that (at the time) he was regularly approached by backbench MPs asking him to put himself forward to the candidates list; he'd be certain to get an excellent safe seat somewhere.

    He refused. He just felt the Conservative party had abandoned its principles and its natural supporters. I got there about 20 years after him. Although I am in 'no man's land' and haven't joined UKIP.

    I'd very careful about insulting him (or anyone in his party) as a 'Clown'. I read that as an insult at me (and my intelligence) as well. I'm sure you know the Conservatives still need 40%+ to reliably win majorities. You will not win a single ex-Conservative back with that approach.

    It just reinforces divisions between us.

    If we had STV, my guess would be that most UKIP voters would transfer to Conservatives, and most Conservative voters would transfer to UKIP, but that certainly wouldn't be universal.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412

    Mr. Royale, hard to predict that far ahead. It depends whether UKIP fades and the Lib Dems return, UKIP replaces the Lib Dems as a strong(ish) third party, or whether we end up with a two party system again.

    It is. I did post here the other day an unorthodox prediction that the old Lib Dems would die out. The Tories would become the new (strongly orange book) Lib Dems. And UKIP would become (a very big "C") conservative party.

    Perhaps that is silly, but there does appear to be a little bit of evidence for that on here today. If that did happen, I think PR is almost a certainty. The Tories would never win on FPTP again after 2015. In pure PR, the votes in England might split 15-20% UKIP, 25-30% OB Tory, Labour 25%-30%, LibDem 5-10%, Green 5-10% etc.

    It might make for some interesting coalition politics.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Royale, I hope you're wrong on PR. It's a bloody silly system, and would shift power from the hands of the electorate to the grubby mitts of the political class. Manifesto promises would be jettisoned with impunity and political leaders would decide which coalition we ended up lumbered with.
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,637
    So UKIP were the main opposition to Labour in South Shields, the main opposition to the Lib Dems in Eastleigh and now the main opposition to the Conservatives in Newark. I think there might be a pattern developing in the data, but I'm not sure what it is...
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340

    Atul Hatwal repeats the same point that antifrank and others here have been making, that Newark indicates that there is anti-UKIP tactical voting, especially by former LibDem voters.

    I'm unconvinced by this. Tactical voting implies deliberately voting for a party to stop another, rather than voting for the one you would vote for if it had a chance.

    Now, there weren't any tactical voters in Newark in 2010. The 20% who voted LibDem were certainly not people voting LibDem because Labour didn't have a chance and the LibDems did. They were presumably, and very simply, people who preferred the LibDems to the alternatives. They might not have been particularly strongly identified with the LibDem Party, but neither were they voting tactically. They were just voting, period. They weren't Labour supporters voting LibDem to keep out the evil Tories.

    Now, it may well be that quite a few of them yesterday voted Tory. But that if itself doesn't mean they were voting tactically to keep out UKIP. Surely the simplest explanation is that they've been disappointed with the LibDems, and preferred the Tories out of the options available, just as last time they preferred the LibDems out of the options available.

    This is an important point, because, if I'm right, the number of LD->Con switchers won't depend on whether UKIP is seen as the main contender in a given seat. If the 'tactical voting' theory is right, it will.
    I take your point that voters do not mark their X with an asterisk to indicate when they are voting tactically.

    But all available polling, including that of the Conservative/Labour marginals, suggests that 2010 Lib Dems are generally breaking disproportionately for Labour in preference to the Conservatives. This pattern apparently did not take place in Newark. The inference is that some 2010 Lib Dem voters in Newark were voting Conservative as the least worst of the two front runners.

    While I have been critical of Labour's performance in Newark, it is noteworthy that its 2010 voters seem to have been much less inclined than 2010 Lib Dem voters to vote tactically for either UKIP or the Conservatives.
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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    Mr. Royale, I think that predictions of the destruction of the Conservative Party are premature. It will take a life-changing event (probably death) to shift some stalwart voters. So they will be a major party for many years yet.

    However, I do think we are in a period of massive political change, the like of which has not been seen since the early 20th century when the Labour Party became a force. This is not surprising given the rapid changes our society has been through and is still going through. Changes greater and, more importantly, faster than we have seen since the urbanisation of the industrial revolution, if not ever.

    Whether UKIP goes onto succeed as a parliamentary party or not, those who seek to deny real political change is happening and that the old models are still valid are doomed to disappointment. For example, the Lib Dems are not going to bounce back, those that think they will perhaps need to look at their own motivations and compare those with society at large. UKIP are now picking up roughly 1 in 4 of the voters those people cannot be ignored or buried by tactical voting.

    The other point I would make is that, not surprisingly in this era of 24 hour news, people tend to look for fast results. You know the kind of thing, "UKIP didn't win a by election - they are off the rails and finished as an insurgent force". Real changes in politics happen much more slowly, decades not months.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412
    Sean_F said:

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    Total destruction or detoxification?

    You've got some very strange bedfellows in UKIP, Clown Farage being amongst them.
    Destruction. But I suppose a destroyed party is by its very nature detoxified. Not that it matters once it no longer exists.

    It's important to note that Farage himself was (and is) a staunch Thatcherite. He once told me (in person, way back in 2002) that if you bit off the top of his head (like he was a stick of Blackpool rock) you would see the pattern TORY embedded right throughout the length of his body. He went on to say that (at the time) he was regularly approached by backbench MPs asking him to put himself forward to the candidates list; he'd be certain to get an excellent safe seat somewhere.

    He refused. He just felt the Conservative party had abandoned its principles and its natural supporters. I got there about 20 years after him. Although I am in 'no man's land' and haven't joined UKIP.

    I'd very careful about insulting him (or anyone in his party) as a 'Clown'. I read that as an insult at me (and my intelligence) as well. I'm sure you know the Conservatives still need 40%+ to reliably win majorities. You will not win a single ex-Conservative back with that approach.

    It just reinforces divisions between us.

    If we had STV, my guess would be that most UKIP voters would transfer to Conservatives, and most Conservative voters would transfer to UKIP, but that certainly wouldn't be universal.
    On current policy positions, yes. If the Conservatives did move more and more towards the current Lib Dem philosophy (on immigration, Europe, the family etc.) - and were rude to me whilst they were at it - it'd be by no means certain they'd get any transfer vote from me.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933

    Atul Hatwal repeats the same point that antifrank and others here have been making, that Newark indicates that there is anti-UKIP tactical voting, especially by former LibDem voters.

    I'm unconvinced by this. Tactical voting implies deliberately voting for a party to stop another, rather than voting for the one you would vote for if it had a chance.

    Now, there weren't any tactical voters in Newark in 2010. The 20% who voted LibDem were certainly not people voting LibDem because Labour didn't have a chance and the LibDems did. They were presumably, and very simply, people who preferred the LibDems to the alternatives. They might not have been particularly strongly identified with the LibDem Party, but neither were they voting tactically. They were just voting, period. They weren't Labour supporters voting LibDem to keep out the evil Tories.

    Now, it may well be that quite a few of them yesterday voted Tory. But that if itself doesn't mean they were voting tactically to keep out UKIP. Surely the simplest explanation is that they've been disappointed with the LibDems, and preferred the Tories out of the options available, just as last time they preferred the LibDems out of the options available.

    This is an important point, because, if I'm right, the number of LD->Con switchers won't depend on whether UKIP is seen as the main contender in a given seat. If the 'tactical voting' theory is right, it will.
    Tactical anti UKIP vote saw them increase their vote share by 18% and the votes by 8,000.

    Desperate anti UKIP meme pushing by parties that suffered appalling results
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933

    FPT

    isam said:


    Im not saying they will win 4-5, i am saying thats the most they will win

    These are their best shots IMO

    Boston & Skegness
    Bromsgrove
    Castle Point
    Dag & Rain
    Dudley North
    Great Grimsby
    Halesown & Rowley Regis
    Morley & Outwood
    Newcastle Under Lyme
    Plymouth Moor View
    S Bas & E Thurrock
    Staffordshire Moorlands
    Stoke on Trent South
    Telford
    Thanet North
    Thanet South
    Thurrock
    Walsall North Lads
    Walsall South
    West Bromwich West
    Wolverhampton NE

    Oh, OK - sorry for the confusion.

    As in my previous post though I'm still a bit bemused as to why any of these could be considered best shots except in a least-worst sense.

    The number after each are how many votes behind the winners UKIP were in 2010.

    Boston & Skegness - 17,244
    Bromsgrove - 19,608
    Castle Point - 19,806 (although elec calc says 0 votes, so I assume not fought)
    Dag & Rain - 13,614
    Dudley North - 11,007
    Great Grimsby - 8,020
    Halesown & Rowley Regis - 15,291
    Morley & Outwood - 15,758; Ed Balls' seat saved from him by UKIP
    Newcastle Under Lyme - 11,350
    Plymouth Moor View - 10,657
    S Bas & E Thurrock - 16,985
    Staffordshire Moorlands - 16,213
    Stoke on Trent South - 9,953
    Telford - 12,568
    Thanet North - 20,007
    Thanet South - 19,514
    Thurrock - 13,479
    Walsall North Lads - 10,658
    Walsall South - 11,007
    West Bromwich West - 9,046
    Wolverhampton NE - 10,826

    One way in which UKIP are clearly differentiated from the others is by the fact that their "best shots" list looks a lot like a LibLabCon "no hopers" list!

    Are UKIP contesting Norfolk Enchance?
    Well they didnt come close to winning any seat in 2010 did they so you could say that about all 650!

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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    No, TSE (and I) are very comfortable in the Tory party as it exists today.

    Economically dry, socially progressive. Speaking for myself, I see no conflict between, for instance, my Anglican values and the state allowing gays to get married.

    Perhaps I should change my avatar to a picture of Macaulay: the unflinching principal underlying everything that the Tory Party does and should do is "Reform that you may preserve". If you resist all change, then all that you hold dear will be overthrown: far better to be a reed than an oak

    Turn where we may - within, around - the voice of great events is proclaiming to us, "Reform, that you may preserve", [...] Pronounce in a manner worthy of the expectation with which this great debate has been anticipated, and of the long remembrance which it will leave behind. Renew the youth of the State. Save the multitude, endangered by its own ungovernable passions. Save the aristocracy, endangered by its own unpopular power. Save the greatest, and the fairest and most highly civilised community that ever existed from the calamities which may in a few days sweep away all the rich heritage of so many ages of wisdom and glory [...]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Babington_Macaulay,_1st_Baron_Macaulay
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,013

    Mr. Royale, I hope you're wrong on PR. It's a bloody silly system, and would shift power from the hands of the electorate to the grubby mitts of the political class. Manifesto promises would be jettisoned with impunity and political leaders would decide which coalition we ended up lumbered with.

    The danger of FTPT is that you could have a situation where the LibDems get half the vote share of UKIP, but have 30 seats against none, and the Labour Party gets sub 30% of the national vote yet forms a majority government.

    No voting system is perfect. With an increasingly fragmented UK polis, FPTP can start to give some absurdly disproportionate results.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412

    Mr. Royale, I hope you're wrong on PR. It's a bloody silly system, and would shift power from the hands of the electorate to the grubby mitts of the political class. Manifesto promises would be jettisoned with impunity and political leaders would decide which coalition we ended up lumbered with.

    I have reservations about PR myself. However, on all the disadvantages you raise, I think we're already in that world.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,013
    @Morris_Dancer

    Hypothetically, if there were 10 political parties, and 9 got 9.9% and the last one 11%, do you think they should have a majority of seats in the HoC?
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    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    antifrank said:


    But all available polling, including that of the Conservative/Labour marginals, suggests that 2010 Lib Dems are generally breaking disproportionately for Labour in preference to the Conservatives. This pattern apparently did not take place in Newark. The inference is that some 2010 Lib Dem voters in Newark were voting Conservative as the least worst of the two front runners.

    Alternatively, and I think very plausibly, it could simply mean that 2010 LibDem voters in seats like Newark will behave differently from LibDem voters in seats where there was tactical voting in 2010. That would make very good sense because the motivation behind a 2010 LibDem vote in Newark may well have been very different from the motivation behind a LibDem vote in, say, Eastbourne.
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,502
    edited June 2014

    Mr. Freggles, that post makes me think a Red Shift/Blue Shift article could be worth reading.

    Come on, Mr. Eagles. You're always saying physics gives you a hadron.

    Mr Smithson has made it clear to me, I am NOT allowed to do any threads on the things that give me a hadron.

    PB has to remain a family site.
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    If I were advising UKIP, after last night I would advise them to put almost all their resources into the following seats:

    Great Grimsby, Great Yarmouth, Waveney, Castle Point, Thurrock, the Thanets, Eastleigh.

    That's eight seats. If they won eight, that would be an incredible result for them. Personally, I still think that zero is the most likely seat tally next year.
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,502

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    For the avoidance of doubt, if I wanted to vote for a reactionary party, that scapegoats and whips up fears about immigration, I'd vote for Labour, why would I want to vote UKIP?


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    Bond_James_BondBond_James_Bond Posts: 1,939
    Smarmeron said:

    @Scrapheap_as_was

    Bias is quite often someone telling a truth that we don't like.
    I am disgusted that the media show old soldiers remembering, and pomp and flags, but are more reticent about showing pictures of the dead and wounded (especially the cattle slaughter at "Utah" beach) where the Americans struggled bravely through withering fire.

    It was Omaha wasn't it?
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,013
    Crossover!

    Spanish 10 year bond yields now below the UK
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    TapestryTapestry Posts: 153
    Why did people in Newark back UKIP so heavily at the bookies? Did they know something the pollsters didn't? It's a bit like Blair's third election victory. The voters knew they didn't vote for him, but the polls told them they were going to.
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    TykejohnnoTykejohnno Posts: 7,362
    Well done Grant shapp's,give credit when due.
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    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @Bond_James_Bond

    I thought it was "Utah" where the "swimming" Shermans were dropped to far off shore and drifted uptide till they eventually sunk. But both American beaches were rougher for the troops than the others further up the coast.
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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    Smarmeron said:

    @Scrapheap_as_was

    Bias is quite often someone telling a truth that we don't like.
    I am disgusted that the media show old soldiers remembering, and pomp and flags, but are more reticent about showing pictures of the dead and wounded (especially the cattle slaughter at "Utah" beach) where the Americans struggled bravely through withering fire.

    I think you meant Omaha beach. Casualties at Utah (less than 500 from memory) were very light in comparison and much lower than pre-battle estimates.


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    NeilNeil Posts: 7,983
    Tapestry said:

    Why did people in Newark back UKIP so heavily at the bookies? Did they know something the pollsters didn't? It's a bit like Blair's third election victory. The voters knew they didn't vote for him, but the polls told them they were going to.

    Prince Charles.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346
    Smarmeron said:

    @Bond_James_Bond

    I thought it was "Utah" where the "swimming" Shermans were dropped to far off shore and drifted uptide till they eventually sunk. But both American beaches were rougher for the troops than the others further up the coast.

    Omaha was depicted in Saving Private Ryan (dramatic licence aside), but the figures speak for themselves: 2,000 troops died on Omaha, and an average of roughly 1,000 at each of the other four beaches.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,329
    edited June 2014
    FPT
    TOPPING said:
    Peter Allen on Radio5 in France this morning, was excellent, really from the heart. It sounded as uncomposed as I have heard him: "the boys...they were just boys...we should look at our own children and then think of them with rifles thrust into their hands...just boys..."

    very moving.
    Peter Allen is great.

    One of the VETs on R4 this morning was pointing out that man of those boys in the graveyards of France were even younger than they are declared because they had lied about their age to sign up a year early, as he had done himself. Many would have been as young as my daughter. A really different world and a different generation.
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    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @HurstLlama

    I concede the point then.
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    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,047

    Smarmeron said:

    The IMF's warning is in second place on the "BBC's web site, Georges tweet and TSE's "huzzah" seem to be overshadowed.

    "The International Monetary Fund warns George Osborne that accelerating house prices and low productivity pose the greatest threat to the UK's economic recovery. "

    Anti Tory bias by the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation?

    Colour me stunned.

    Bolshevik? Don't make me laugh. The BBC is run by wealthy middle class people who want to keep their privileges. The fact it is considered left wing just shows how that concept has lost any meaning.

    You don't expect the BBC to take a warning from the IMF seriously? The trouble is only the right have been prepared to criticise Auntie in the past. Many on the left are often unhappy about he BBC's reporting but are reluctant to openly criticise it for fear of playing into Murdoch etc hands. Unless the left complain about BBC bias the myth that it's the red menace will continue. Critiquing our ludicrous housing policy is the least we might expect.
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    TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    edited June 2014
    Neil said:

    Tapestry said:

    Why did people in Newark back UKIP so heavily at the bookies? Did they know something the pollsters didn't? It's a bit like Blair's third election victory. The voters knew they didn't vote for him, but the polls told them they were going to.

    Prince Charles.
    The lizards used HAARP to vaporise UKIP ballot papers.

    The only defence is to line the boxes with tinfoil.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412
    Charles said:



    blockquote>

    No, TSE (and I) are very comfortable in the Tory party as it exists today.

    Economically dry, socially progressive. Speaking for myself, I see no conflict between, for instance, my Anglican values and the state allowing gays to get married.

    Perhaps I should change my avatar to a picture of Macaulay: the unflinching principal underlying everything that the Tory Party does and should do is "Reform that you may preserve". If you resist all change, then all that you hold dear will be overthrown: far better to be a reed than an oak

    Turn where we may - within, around - the voice of great events is proclaiming to us, "Reform, that you may preserve", [...] Pronounce in a manner worthy of the expectation with which this great debate has been anticipated, and of the long remembrance which it will leave behind. Renew the youth of the State. Save the multitude, endangered by its own ungovernable passions. Save the aristocracy, endangered by its own unpopular power. Save the greatest, and the fairest and most highly civilised community that ever existed from the calamities which may in a few days sweep away all the rich heritage of so many ages of wisdom and glory [...]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Babington_Macaulay,_1st_Baron_Macaulay

    Charles - the point I was trying to make is that JackW, TSE and yourself said that you'd vote Lib Dem if the Tories made a pact with UKIP. However, a plurality of UKIP's voters (any many of its members) *were* party of the Conservative Party until very recent memory.

    Thatcher cleaned up the constituency from which UKIP draws its main vote. Even up until 5-8 years ago, you and I might not agree on all policy matters, but we'd be sitting in the same meeting rooms listening to pep-talks from our local PPC/MP before going out knocking on doors and leafleting together.

    Now we are talking about how we'd do anything to stay as far apart from one another politically as possible. I think it's crazy.

    As for your 'change in order to conserve', I've heard it all before. I'm not having a go at you, and I just find it patronising. I consider myself socially progressive. I am anti-capital punishment, pro-liberal reform in prisons and big on civil liberties. Socrates is a republican and even bigger on civil liberties. We're not neatherdal idiots.

    Besides which, the Conservative Party problem was never policy. It was that people distrusted its motives and thought the people in it were odious, pompous, patronising, self-serving, self-centered prats and fools, who cared about nobody and nothing but enriching themselves and their mates, didn't give a flying crap about the average Joe, and would sell their own mothers to advance their careers.

    *That* was the detoxification that needed addressing. It never has been.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346

    Smarmeron said:

    The IMF's warning is in second place on the "BBC's web site, Georges tweet and TSE's "huzzah" seem to be overshadowed.

    "The International Monetary Fund warns George Osborne that accelerating house prices and low productivity pose the greatest threat to the UK's economic recovery. "

    Anti Tory bias by the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation?

    Colour me stunned.

    Bolshevik? Don't make me laugh. The BBC is run by wealthy middle class people who want to keep their privileges. The fact it is considered left wing just shows how that concept has lost any meaning.

    You don't expect the BBC to take a warning from the IMF seriously? The trouble is only the right have been prepared to criticise Auntie in the past. Many on the left are often unhappy about he BBC's reporting but are reluctant to openly criticise it for fear of playing into Murdoch etc hands. Unless the left complain about BBC bias the myth that it's the red menace will continue. Critiquing our ludicrous housing policy is the least we might expect.
    Over the last couple of weeks BBC bias TOWARDS UKIP was a meme on Twitter.
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    Life_ina_market_townLife_ina_market_town Posts: 2,319
    edited June 2014
    Neil said:

    Are they going to question Robinson or inquire after his remarks?

    I may disagree with both Mr McConnell's and Mr Robinson's views, but the idea that this is a police matter is a serious threat to liberty. There must be freedom to criticise, even in the most offensive terms, the religions and superstitions that people subscribe to. Neither Mr McConnell nor Mr Robinson incited violence. Let their actions be criticised, not be subject to the criminal law.
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    Scrapheap_as_wasScrapheap_as_was Posts: 10,059

    Atul Hatwal repeats the same point that antifrank and others here have been making, that Newark indicates that there is anti-UKIP tactical voting, especially by former LibDem voters.

    I'm unconvinced by this. Tactical voting implies deliberately voting for a party to stop another, rather than voting for the one you would vote for if it had a chance.

    Now, there weren't any tactical voters in Newark in 2010. The 20% who voted LibDem were certainly not people voting LibDem because Labour didn't have a chance and the LibDems did. They were presumably, and very simply, people who preferred the LibDems to the alternatives. They might not have been particularly strongly identified with the LibDem Party, but neither were they voting tactically. They were just voting, period. They weren't Labour supporters voting LibDem to keep out the evil Tories.

    Now, it may well be that quite a few of them yesterday voted Tory. But that if itself doesn't mean they were voting tactically to keep out UKIP. Surely the simplest explanation is that they've been disappointed with the LibDems, and preferred the Tories out of the options available, just as last time they preferred the LibDems out of the options available.

    This is an important point, because, if I'm right, the number of LD->Con switchers won't depend on whether UKIP is seen as the main contender in a given seat. If the 'tactical voting' theory is right, it will.
    I think the Tories are alive to this - Hancock repeatedly said last night it was a good result for the Conservative party AND a good result for the Government.... that's suggesting to me a gentle compliment to the Lib Dems/supporters as why else say the second bit.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    .

    Mr. Royale, I think that predictions of the destruction of the Conservative Party are premature. It will take a life-changing event (probably death) to shift some stalwart voters. So they will be a major party for many years yet.

    However, I do think we are in a period of massive political change, the like of which has not been seen since the early 20th century when the Labour Party became a force. This is not surprising given the rapid changes our society has been through and is still going through. Changes greater and, more importantly, faster than we have seen since the urbanisation of the industrial revolution, if not ever.

    Whether UKIP goes onto succeed as a parliamentary party or not, those who seek to deny real political change is happening and that the old models are still valid are doomed to disappointment. For example, the Lib Dems are not going to bounce back, those that think they will perhaps need to look at their own motivations and compare those with society at large. UKIP are now picking up roughly 1 in 4 of the voters those people cannot be ignored or buried by tactical voting.

    The other point I would make is that, not surprisingly in this era of 24 hour news, people tend to look for fast results. You know the kind of thing, "UKIP didn't win a by election - they are off the rails and finished as an insurgent force". Real changes in politics happen much more slowly, decades not months.
    There were 253,600 members when Cameron was elected leader. I understand that current figures are very close to 100,000, and may even be below it. That's a stunning loss of 60%+ in 8-9 years.

    I think we'll limp on with the current electoral system for now. But there will be a big change in the 2020s as people realise it is unsustainable.
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    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,047
    rcs1000 said:

    Crossover!

    Spanish 10 year bond yields now below the UK

    I'm no expert but I presume that's because of expected deflation in the Eurozone. We need to end this obsession with low bond yields. It may be good that people have confidence in a government to honour its debts (thanks to the ECB) but in the long run such yields are a sign that we're all doomed.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,013

    Neil said:

    Are they going to question Robinson or inquire after his remarks?

    I may disagree with both Mr McConnell's and Mr Robinson's views, but the idea that this is a police matter is a serious threat to liberty. There must be freedom to criticise, even in the most offensive terms, the religions and superstitions that people subscribe to. Neither Mr McConnell nor Mr Robinson incited violence. Let their actions be criticised, not be subject to the criminal law.
    Hear, hear.
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,932
    Tapestry said:

    Why did people in Newark back UKIP so heavily at the bookies?

    People enjoy losing money ?
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    Bond_James_BondBond_James_Bond Posts: 1,939

    UKIP are now picking up roughly 1 in 4 of the voters those people cannot be ignored or buried by tactical voting.

    Only in by elections, euros, and other fun-runs that don't actually alter the government. In those that do, UKIP underperform these other results; viz the 17% they got in the locals, and the 3% they got in the GE.

    The SDP polled over 50% in the early 80s; they had broken the mould; where are they now?
    isam said:

    FPT

    isam said:


    Im not saying they will win 4-5, i am saying thats the most they will win

    These are their best shots IMO

    Boston & Skegness
    Bromsgrove
    Castle Point
    Dag & Rain
    Dudley North
    Great Grimsby
    Halesown & Rowley Regis
    Morley & Outwood
    Newcastle Under Lyme
    Plymouth Moor View
    S Bas & E Thurrock
    Staffordshire Moorlands
    Stoke on Trent South
    Telford
    Thanet North
    Thanet South
    Thurrock
    Walsall North Lads
    Walsall South
    West Bromwich West
    Wolverhampton NE

    Oh, OK - sorry for the confusion.

    As in my previous post though I'm still a bit bemused as to why any of these could be considered best shots except in a least-worst sense.

    The number after each are how many votes behind the winners UKIP were in 2010.

    Boston & Skegness - 17,244
    Bromsgrove - 19,608
    Castle Point - 19,806 (although elec calc says 0 votes, so I assume not fought)
    Dag & Rain - 13,614
    Dudley North - 11,007
    Great Grimsby - 8,020
    Halesown & Rowley Regis - 15,291
    Morley & Outwood - 15,758; Ed Balls' seat saved from him by UKIP
    Newcastle Under Lyme - 11,350
    Plymouth Moor View - 10,657
    S Bas & E Thurrock - 16,985
    Staffordshire Moorlands - 16,213
    Stoke on Trent South - 9,953
    Telford - 12,568
    Thanet North - 20,007
    Thanet South - 19,514
    Thurrock - 13,479
    Walsall North Lads - 10,658
    Walsall South - 11,007
    West Bromwich West - 9,046
    Wolverhampton NE - 10,826

    One way in which UKIP are clearly differentiated from the others is by the fact that their "best shots" list looks a lot like a LibLabCon "no hopers" list!

    Are UKIP contesting Norfolk Enchance?
    Well they didnt come close to winning any seat in 2010 did they so you could say that about all 650!

    Well, yes. Quite.

    As antifrank says, the likeliest result is 0 seats. Given that UKIP is the Angry Party, Farage can't survive another failure like that and will be replaced.

    I tremble with joy at the prospect of Neil Hamilton succeeding him.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,329

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    I am with JackW, Charles, TSE and others on this. In the1980s the tories were right on the economics but socially repulsive which put me in the SDP at the time. In the early 2000s they struggled even on the economics but it was obvious that Brown had us on the path to disaster. Still, I voted for Howard with a heavy heart.

    With Cameron and Osborne I feel far more comfortable. I would still prefer the party had far more "ordinary" folk at the top and fewer public school boys but they are liberal in a very traditional sense. Can one really imagine the tories of the dark days introducing gay marriage?

    I feel happier supporting the current Conservative party than I have in my entire life. I have major reservations about the EU but I would rather vote Labour than UKIP (as long as I was not living in Kirkcaldy of course).
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    edited June 2014



    The Great Yarmouth seat not on your list, Mr. Sam? An oversight surely.

    < Annecdote Alert >

    I spoke to my bother last evening. He is not a natural Conservative voter being a retired London Underground train driver and, in his day, a fiery trade unionist. He now lives near Great Yarmouth. From what he told me, I should imagine that the UKIP message will go down very well indeed in that part of the world.

    < /Annecdote Alert >

    Yes an oversight... and Eastleigh too



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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,346
    rcs1000 said:

    Neil said:

    Are they going to question Robinson or inquire after his remarks?

    I may disagree with both Mr McConnell's and Mr Robinson's views, but the idea that this is a police matter is a serious threat to liberty. There must be freedom to criticise, even in the most offensive terms, the religions and superstitions that people subscribe to. Neither Mr McConnell nor Mr Robinson incited violence. Let their actions be criticised, not be subject to the criminal law.
    Hear, hear.
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

    Though these words are regularly attributed to Voltaire, they were first used by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, writing under the pseudonym of Stephen G Tallentyre in The Friends of Voltaire (1906), as a summation of Voltaire's beliefs on freedom of thought and expression.[12]

    http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire
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    Bond_James_BondBond_James_Bond Posts: 1,939

    Smarmeron said:

    @Bond_James_Bond

    I thought it was "Utah" where the "swimming" Shermans were dropped to far off shore and drifted uptide till they eventually sunk. But both American beaches were rougher for the troops than the others further up the coast.

    Omaha was depicted in Saving Private Ryan (dramatic licence aside), but the figures speak for themselves: 2,000 troops died on Omaha, and an average of roughly 1,000 at each of the other four beaches.
    A mistake Scipio avoided at Zama. Although the fighting took place on sand, it wasn't a beach. Clever move, that.

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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    For the avoidance of doubt, if I wanted to vote for a reactionary party, that scapegoats and whips up fears about immigration, I'd vote for Labour, why would I want to vote UKIP?


    Do you think any of those things must apply to someone who is economically dry who..

    (a) thinks that having open-borders is as puristically ideological as having firmly closed-borders, and would prefer a sensible middle-ground of an annual limit on net migration (to be debated and decided upon by parliament)
    (b) thinks our political future is best served through a network of open global trading relationships, and a reinvigorated national democracy, and for both of these things to happen wants to withdraw from the political and economic union of the EU (but still maintain free and open trade with it, and continuing to positively engage with the continent, cooperating wherever possible in matters of mutual interest)

    And (c) could you ever exist in the same party as someone like that?
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,013

    rcs1000 said:

    Crossover!

    Spanish 10 year bond yields now below the UK

    I'm no expert but I presume that's because of expected deflation in the Eurozone. We need to end this obsession with low bond yields. It may be good that people have confidence in a government to honour its debts (thanks to the ECB) but in the long run such yields are a sign that we're all doomed.
    It's not just deflation as the Spain-Germany has interest spread has narrowed sharply. The most recent moves are - I suspect- the result of two factors:

    1. The decline in the perceived riskiness of peripheral European economies in general, and Spain and Ireland in particular. Ireland, for example, should see government debt to GDP beginning to decline from 3Q or 4Q this year (albeit from a high level).

    2. The introduction of (rather limited) QE by the ECB, which could well bolster asset prices across the whole Eurozone.

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    Scrapheap_as_wasScrapheap_as_was Posts: 10,059
    DavidL said:

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    I am with JackW, Charles, TSE and others on this. In the1980s the tories were right on the economics but socially repulsive which put me in the SDP at the time. In the early 2000s they struggled even on the economics but it was obvious that Brown had us on the path to disaster. Still, I voted for Howard with a heavy heart.

    With Cameron and Osborne I feel far more comfortable. I would still prefer the party had far more "ordinary" folk at the top and fewer public school boys but they are liberal in a very traditional sense. Can one really imagine the tories of the dark days introducing gay marriage?

    I feel happier supporting the current Conservative party than I have in my entire life. I have major reservations about the EU but I would rather vote Labour than UKIP (as long as I was not living in Kirkcaldy of course).
    Well said - hence why I became a Blue member in recent years. Around the same time I took to sleeveless sweaters mind you.
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    felixfelix Posts: 15,124

    @PopulusPolls: New Populus VI: Lab 35 (-2); Cons 34 (+2); LD 9 (-1); UKIP 14 (+1); Oth 9 (+1) Tables http://t.co/241rZSLttw

    I noticed bobafett earlier wanting a thread on the widening Labour lead with YouGov but surprisingly he hasn't commented on this poll. I wonder why?

    I also note that in last weeks' elections and yesterday the Tories seem to be out-performing the polls by about 2% with Labour is short by the same. Interesting.

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    TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262

    UKIP are now picking up roughly 1 in 4 of the voters those people cannot be ignored or buried by tactical voting.

    Only in by elections, euros, and other fun-runs that don't actually alter the government. In those that do, UKIP underperform these other results; viz the 17% they got in the locals, and the 3% they got in the GE.

    The SDP polled over 50% in the early 80s; they had broken the mould; where are they now?
    isam said:

    FPT

    isam said:


    Im not saying they will win 4-5, i am saying thats the most they will win

    These are their best shots IMO

    Boston & Skegness
    Bromsgrove
    Castle Point
    Dag & Rain
    Dudley North
    Great Grimsby
    Halesown & Rowley Regis
    Morley & Outwood
    Newcastle Under Lyme
    Plymouth Moor View
    S Bas & E Thurrock
    Staffordshire Moorlands
    Stoke on Trent South
    Telford
    Thanet North
    Thanet South
    Thurrock
    Walsall North Lads
    Walsall South
    West Bromwich West
    Wolverhampton NE

    Oh, OK - sorry for the confusion.

    As in my previous post though I'm still a bit bemused as to why any of these could be considered best shots except in a least-worst sense.

    The number after each are how many votes behind the winners UKIP were in 2010.

    Boston & Skegness - 17,244
    Bromsgrove - 19,608
    Castle Point - 19,806 (although elec calc says 0 votes, so I assume not fought)
    Dag & Rain - 13,614
    Dudley North - 11,007
    Great Grimsby - 8,020
    Halesown & Rowley Regis - 15,291
    Morley & Outwood - 15,758; Ed Balls' seat saved from him by UKIP
    Newcastle Under Lyme - 11,350
    Plymouth Moor View - 10,657
    S Bas & E Thurrock - 16,985
    Staffordshire Moorlands - 16,213
    Stoke on Trent South - 9,953
    Telford - 12,568
    Thanet North - 20,007
    Thanet South - 19,514
    Thurrock - 13,479
    Walsall North Lads - 10,658
    Walsall South - 11,007
    West Bromwich West - 9,046
    Wolverhampton NE - 10,826

    One way in which UKIP are clearly differentiated from the others is by the fact that their "best shots" list looks a lot like a LibLabCon "no hopers" list!

    Are UKIP contesting Norfolk Enchance?
    Well they didnt come close to winning any seat in 2010 did they so you could say that about all 650!

    Well, yes. Quite.

    As antifrank says, the likeliest result is 0 seats. Given that UKIP is the Angry Party, Farage can't survive another failure like that and will be replaced.

    I tremble with joy at the prospect of Neil Hamilton succeeding him.
    UKIP; the party that took, nay welcomed, Hamilton on board. Says it all.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,412
    antifrank said:

    If I were advising UKIP, after last night I would advise them to put almost all their resources into the following seats:

    Great Grimsby, Great Yarmouth, Waveney, Castle Point, Thurrock, the Thanets, Eastleigh.

    That's eight seats. If they won eight, that would be an incredible result for them. Personally, I still think that zero is the most likely seat tally next year.

    Let's face it, even I can agree the UKIP ground game is shit. Whilst they were working themselves up into a state of feverish excitement in Newark town square, the Tories were crunching data using powerful software and banging on doors.

    No doubt (if Crosby/Shapps) have any sense, they're already over Thanet South like a rash, preparing the ground and canvassing like mad.

    I doubt UKIP are doing anything similar.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,013

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    For the avoidance of doubt, if I wanted to vote for a reactionary party, that scapegoats and whips up fears about immigration, I'd vote for Labour, why would I want to vote UKIP?


    Do you think any of those things must apply to someone who is economically dry who..

    (a) thinks that having open-borders is as puristically ideological as having firmly closed-borders, and would prefer a sensible middle-ground of an annual limit on net migration (to be debated and decided upon by parliament)
    (b) thinks our political future is best served through a network of open global trading relationships, and a reinvigorated national democracy, and for both of these things to happen wants to withdraw from the political and economic union of the EU (but still maintain free and open trade with it, and continuing to positively engage with the continent, cooperating wherever possible in matters of mutual interest)

    And (c) could you ever exist in the same party as someone like that?
    We have always had open-borders with Ireland, and Irish citizens have always had the right to live and work here. Would you suggest changing that?

    Or, is the issue you have with open borders the fact that the EU now contains a lot of poorer countries, and that - for the first time - you are seeing competition for jobs from foreigners not just in highly skilled sectors (like finance, oil & gas, or pharmaceuticals), but at the lower end of the wage scale?
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,502

    FPT: rcs1000 said: "I think there are a number of Conservative voters on this board - like JackW and Charles, for example - who have said they would vote LibDem in the event of a UKIP/Con alliance. I do not believe they are alone, and I would be very surprised if the LibDems did not see their vote share increase in Eastleigh from the by-election level."

    TSE: "So would I."

    And there we have it: the modernisation project is complete. People like Sean Fear and myself were old Tory stalwarts until 4 years ago. I suspect that there might have been others too (Socrates? Sunil?) as well. We have been lost to UKIP, you may well be lost to the Liberal Democrats.

    So who will be left?

    We were all one solid team until very recently. But the lasting legacy of Cameron could be the near total destruction of the Conservative Party.

    For the avoidance of doubt, if I wanted to vote for a reactionary party, that scapegoats and whips up fears about immigration, I'd vote for Labour, why would I want to vote UKIP?


    Do you think any of those things must apply to someone who is economically dry who..

    (a) thinks that having open-borders is as puristically ideological as having firmly closed-borders, and would prefer a sensible middle-ground of an annual limit on net migration (to be debated and decided upon by parliament)
    (b) thinks our political future is best served through a network of open global trading relationships, and a reinvigorated national democracy, and for both of these things to happen wants to withdraw from the political and economic union of the EU (but still maintain free and open trade with it, and continuing to positively engage with the continent, cooperating wherever possible in matters of mutual interest)

    And (c) could you ever exist in the same party as someone like that?
    a) no, b) no, c) yes

    There's lots of people I like and admire in the Tory Party who believe in a) and b), but I don't think they'd ever run a poster that was as nasty as this

    http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/5/13/1399990131980/Ukip-poster-26-million-pe-006.jpg
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    nigel4englandnigel4england Posts: 4,800
    DavidL said:

    FPT
    TOPPING said:
    Peter Allen on Radio5 in France this morning, was excellent, really from the heart. It sounded as uncomposed as I have heard him: "the boys...they were just boys...we should look at our own children and then think of them with rifles thrust into their hands...just boys..."

    very moving.
    Peter Allen is great.

    One of the VETs on R4 this morning was pointing out that man of those boys in the graveyards of France were even younger than they are declared because they had lied about their age to sign up a year early, as he had done himself. Many would have been as young as my daughter. A really different world and a different generation.

    My Mum lied about her age to join the land army, she was only 15 when war broke out but was desperate to leave home as her stepmother beat her regularly.

    She was stationed on the Isle of Wight where she became friendly with a girl called Mavis. When leave came my Mum had nowhere to go so went home with Mavis, met her brother who was on leave and they married in 1944, my eldest brother was born in May 1945.

This discussion has been closed.